love alarm
by chenrydanger
Summary: Charlotte's science fair project gets her into far more than she bargained for... maybe love and science shouldn't mix. (Inspired by the concept of the Netflix K-drama 'Love Alarm')


Fingernails rapping against the table.

That's the only sound she can hear, even though Swellview Middle School's gym is teeming with swarms of people who bustle from table to table. The annual Swellview County Science Fair. Not much happens in their small midwestern town, and that means that the beloved science fair is basically their second Christmas. Students of all ages have their inventions, theory boards, and other contraptions set up at just about every turn. There's barely space for the judges to maneuver between each contestant's set up. At one end of the gym, the classic volcano. Someone does one every year. At another end is a large robot creation that looms above the heads of even the tallest dads who have come out to support — but only a tiny part of it in the front shows any movement. It's completely unintuitive. Not even Charlotte can tell what it does.

But amidst all of the noise, the excited chatter of eager first-time contestants and the murmurs of gossip from the cheerleaders, most of whom haven't participated but sit in the bleachers to watch, all Charlotte can focus on is the sound of her long, manicured fingernails tapping against the table where she sits. She sits and waits for the judges to finally make their way over to her set up, where lies nothing but a humble PearPhone on the wood of the table.

Channel 7 KLVY reporter Evelyn Hall begins her strut to where Charlotte awaits, and just a few paces behind her, the camera crew glides their equipment toward her table. She steels herself with a deep breath. Smile for the camera, Char. You know the drill.

"Over here we have the brilliant Charlotte Page, who is a Swellview County Science Fair regular and boasts, amongst other accolades, four consecutive second place ribbons…"

She sucks in a gust of air through her teeth. Charlotte is plenty aware of her penchant for procuring the red ribbon adorned with a silver medal instead of the coveted blue first place ribbon and the stunning gold prize that comes with it. It makes her a little stir crazy. But as it is her senior year, she has all but given up on going for the gold. Her appearance at this year's fair is little more than a formality.

"Charlotte, give us the rundown on your project…" Evelyn trails off as she looks around for what Charlotte is presenting. There's no big contraption to fixate on — Charlotte's setup is the most bare in the room. "As well as where we can find it, perhaps?"

Without missing a beat, Charlotte reaches for the phone that sits before her and holds it up so Evelyn can see. "Right here. I'm presenting a mobile app I've engineered entirely myself over the course of the past year. Feel free to take a look."

Evelyn passes the microphone into her other hand and takes the PearPhone, looking intently at the screen. Her eyebrows furrow at first, then raise as her eyes widen with intrigue. "Alright. Walk me through what I'm seeing here, Charlotte."

Charlotte nods. "You're looking at the world's first mobile application-based biopsychosocial monitor of interpersonal and extrapersonal affection."

Evelyn looks up and quirks an eyebrow, and Charlotte can't help but smile.

"A love detector."

"A love detector," Evelyn parrots, and then she stills, eyes trained on the phone with rapt attention. She turns it over in her hand before clicking and fiddling with the buttons and the screen. "Absolutely fascinating. How does it work?"

With just a breath, Charlotte takes off. "Well, the app uses computational nanotechnology to analyze three components of the phone's user. First, their biology, like heart rate, palm sweat, and the like. Then, it analyzes their psychology, so what they think and believe, and lastly, their sociology, so their relationship with others."

The camera is pointed squarely at her now, but she doesn't even notice. She just explains to Evelyn like she would to a friend — and she and Evelyn have been here many times before, so it wouldn't be too farfetched to refer to them as such. Nevertheless, she continues.

"It compiles the input from these factors and computes a judgement on whether or not feelings of attraction are present. Then, using a network I created by combining radar and GPS capabilities, if someone within a certain radius who also has the app downloaded has been found to have such feelings, your app will recognize it and you will be notified."

Evelyn nods. "Wow. You created this yourself?"

"I did."

"And what do you call this incredible innovation?"

A pause.

"Love Alarm."

Like clockwork, Evelyn sets the phone back down on the table and turns to the camera. "Well, you heard it here first folks. Contestant Charlotte Page has done it again, creating an unbelievable invention with wide-ranging implications for all of Swellview… maybe even the entire tri-state area. Certainly a shoo-in for the finals."

She offers Charlotte a warm waggle of her fingers and then she's off, curtailing toward the next presentation of interest. Now it's back to waiting for the judges again, and it's like someone flipped a switch. Charlotte rests her elbow on the table and leans against her hand with a hmph . It's going to be a long afternoon.

**. . .**

Eventually, the end of the evening does come, and with that, the judging period. The judges pass by her table, wearing poker faces and freshly pressed suits and skirts and ...ugh, pantyhose ? And they don't say much, just ask what she made and what it does. This time, no one looks impressed when she gives her spiel. They just nod, thank her, and keep moving. Charlotte huffs.

She isn't even looking up when the familiar voice makes its presence known. "Hey! Sorry I'm late."

When she does look up, it's like she can feel some of the weight lift off of her chest. "Jesus, Henry. What took so long?"

She's pretending to be angry, really, because honestly she couldn't be more glad to see him. If there's anything more tortuous than sitting in the musky middle school gym to wait for her fifth red ribbon, it's doing it without her goofball best friend by her side.

"Ray made me do rounds in the ManCopter after we got done with Minyak, and then I saw these kids who needed help with their dog so I had to land, but one of the kids turned out to be Noelle, and… anyway. Let's talk less about me and more about you."

Her cheeks lift along with her smile as he pulls up a chair and takes a seat across the table from her. "The judges come by yet?"

"Yep."

"Assholes as usual?"

"Yep."

He laughs at her quip of a response, putting his infectious smile on display and causing hers to grow just a tad. But she rolls her eyes because it wouldn't feel right to go from complete and utter suffering to joy in a matter of seconds. Even though maybe that is what she really feels. Reasonably, she has to have some misery left. It's just illogical that he could so quickly take it away.

"I'm glad you made it though. Jasper stopped by but he had to go because of his mom, y'know? And I felt bad because I knew you had to be at work, but I didn't want to sit through this alone. I know, it's stupid, but—"

"Not stupid," Henry deadpans.

She stalls, her left eyebrow posed in skepticism. "Henry…"

"You got an A+ on Shapen's midterm, Char. You're not allowed to say that anything that starts in that brain and comes out of that mouth is stupid, ever."

With a sigh and a shrug, she concedes. Her smile threatens to come back. "Go on…"

Henry grins and leans back in his chair, letting his legs stretch out beneath the table and somehow, they find their way underneath her chair. She's about to complain that he's taking her leg space but before she can say anything, he sobers, cocking his head to one side. "Hey, wait. You never told me what your project for this year was — the app, right? What's it about, what's it do?"

"Oh… I don't know, it's science stuff. It'll bore you."

Henry opens his mouth to protest, but the lights dim and the dingy old spotlight illuminates a spot at one end of the gym where the judges' table is now surrounded by a smattering of jittery amateur scientists, tired parents, and Evelyn Hall's camera crew trying to capture it all.

"The time has come," a bald, sweaty, middle-aged man booms into a microphone he most definitely doesn't need to be using. "The judges panel will now announce this year's winners of the Swellview County Science Fair."

Charlotte's stomach is in knots and she's not sure why. She didn't much care about this whole thing, or at least she didn't think so until this moment.

"Third place…" The man calls out. "Ellie Forswithe, fourth grade. Model of the Solar System."

A modest collection of applause and cheers congratulates tiny Ellie Forswithe as she goes up to receive her ribbon.

Now Charlotte's stomach is turning and butterflies flutter about in just about every part of her digestive tract. She hasn't yet become acquainted with the feeling of butterflies in her throat. It's a new sensation. She doesn't love it.

"Second place…" The man just about shouts into the microphone, which in turn screeches with feedback and little Ellie Forswithe drops her ribbon trying to cover her ears. "... la Pa... ...th grade…. computer…."

Charlotte stands and turns to Henry, heart thumping against her ribcage. "What? What did he say? Did he say my name?"

Henry's eyebrows are furrowed and his gaze fixed on the demonstration at the front, eyes squinted; to see what exactly, Charlotte doesn't know. "I don't… think so. It didn't sound like he said Charlotte."

"Page," she insists. "I think he said Page. I mean, of course he did. Second place again." She starts to make her way to the front until she sees someone she knows from a computer science class she took at Swellview College going up to accept the red ribbon. Makayla Payne.

She stops. And so does her heart.

"First place…" The man bellows. Makayla is shaking hands with the judges. She takes the red ribbon. Charlotte is utterly confused. So she actually didn't get an award this time? She thought getting second place was embarrassing, and now… how is she going to live this one down? She turns on her heel to go back to her place.

"Charlotte Page, twelfth grade. Love Alarm smartphone application."

A chorus of cheers — or okay, maybe just a few — ring out as she stumbles forward on autopilot to collect for the first time the elusive blue ribbon and glossy, gleaming, polished gold medal that comes with it. She shakes hands with each of the judges but her mind isn't even fully there. It's elsewhere. She's light, gravity is barely holding her down. She's floating.

The camera crew is back in her face again, but this time with their own praise and congratulations. Evelyn just smiles at her for a moment before tilting the microphone in her direction. "Tonight marks your first victory in your long SC Science Fair history. Charlotte Page, is there anything you'd like to say?"

Charlotte feels her heart flip and a cheesy grin covers her face. She looks into the camera. She's on the brink of a giggle. "Download Love Alarm, free on the PearStore."

And that… that is how it all begins.

A/N: I really hope y'all enjoyed this! I've been wanting to write something to this concept for a little while now but it just wasn't coming to me how I wanted it to. I think this one got it.

Also ! This is definitely not finished lol (unless y'all hate it) I think it's going to be a few parts long and I knOW my track record for continuing fics is BAD but I promise. I give y'all my word. The next part will come so so soon.

Ok. Das it. I luv u. Bah bye.

(p.s. feel free to fav and comment/review hehe)


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